


A Very Powerful Thing

by Treluna



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 13:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6568093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treluna/pseuds/Treluna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I originally wrote this drabble from xhookswenchx on Tumblr after an in depth discussion about the frustrations of dating.</p><p>However I'm now working on the next chapter.</p><p>Emma and Mary Margaret are roommates in New York City. Emma’s a bail bondsperson. Mary Margaret is a teacher at a prep school on the Upper West Side. After many, many bad dates, Mary Margaret finds herself on a date with a vet tech named David Nolan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Very Powerful Thing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xhookswenchx (ReluctantPrincess)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReluctantPrincess/gifts).



Emma Swan checked her watch again. 9:47. She sank lower in the front seat of her bug and peered out the side window. From her vantage point across the street she could see him sitting on his leather couch, his computer on his lap and the large TV casting a bluish glow on the wall behind him. This particular scumbag was guilty of insurance fraud and was the suspected ringleader in a ponzi scheme that left nearly a dozen people out on the streets. Emma was keeping an eye on him as he sat in his cozy three bedroom apartment at the top of a three floor walk-up on the Upper East Side. 

Her stomach growled. 9:53. Just as she was wondering if that Chinese place by her apartment was still open, the blue TV light flicked off. Emma looked back up at the apartment. In the glow of the streetlights, Emma could see that he was walking toward one of his bedrooms. Clearly, he was in for the night. The little yellow bug roared to life as Emma shifted into gear and drove off, looking up at the apartment one last time.

Twenty minutes later Emma opened the front door to her apartment building; keys in one hand, a bag of Chinese food in her other. Her roommate Mary Margaret was out on a date tonight but Emma picked up some lo mein and eggrolls for her anyway. 

When she opened the door to her apartment, Emma saw Mary Margaret sitting on the couch in a little black dress, her heels discarded near the front door and her feet propped up on the coffee table. Her arms were lightly folded across her chest and she had a quiet smile on her face as laughter issued from the screen. When she saw Emma walk through the door, Mary Margaret picked up the remote and shut off the TV.

“I thought you were going to be out for a while.” Emma said, setting the bags down in the kitchen. Mary Margaret sighed.

“So did I. Turns out Mr. Wonderful wasn’t all he was cracked up to be.” 

“That sucks.” Emma said, “I brought you lo mein.” 

“Thanks, Em, but I ate. Sort of. We went to some fancy place with large plates and tiny portions. I’ll take an egg roll if you have it, though.” 

Emma dished out her dinner and handed Mary Margaret an egg roll as she sat next to her on the couch. They ate in silence for a minute.

“I’m sorry your date didn’t go well.” Emma said. Mary Margaret smiled at her. 

“Oh, that’s fine! It wasn’t meant to be. Maybe next time.”

Emma had long since given up hope of ever finding love. She had been in love before, or what she thought was love, and had no desire to repeat the experience. She told herself that she was fine sticking with one night stands. No strings. No emotions. Just a body. Someone to scratch an itch. Because that's all she would allow herself. An itch. No desire for love. No longing for happiness. Just an itch. And if she came home to an empty, cold bed night after night, that was the small price she paid. Cold sheets to protect her battered heart.

“Don’t you ever get tired of it?” Emma asked. 

“Of what?” Mary Margaret popped the last bite of eggroll in her mouth.

“Dating. The whole thing. Dressing up, going out, forcing conversation with yet another stranger, weird food, that awkward goodnight kiss. Don’t you find it exhausting?”

Mary Margaret considered this. “No.” she said.

“Really?” 

“Really.” Mary Margaret laughed lightly, “I like getting to know someone new. And the awkwardness isn't always a bad thing! It’s in that first awkward conversation that you really get a chance to know someone. That conversation, that first date, that’s when you find out if this person is someone you can see yourself having a future with.”

“And if they aren’t?” Emma asked.

“Well, then you find someone else.”

“That sounds exhausting.” Emma said, taking another bite.

“Sometimes it is. But it’s worth it. Love is always worth it.” 

“What if you never find love?” Emma asked, “What if it’s just an endless string of bad dates, one right after the other, and that’s all it will ever be?”

“I don’t believe that.” Mary Margaret stated simply. “I can’t. I have to believe in the possibility of love. I have to believe that all of these dates that end early and the nights I spend alone, all these seemingly fruitless attempts at a relationship are worth it because somewhere there is someone I am destined to love more than I know I am capable of loving another person and I will keep going out and trying and hoping for the best until I find them. Because hope, even the possibility of hope, is a very powerful thing.” 

Later that night, as Emma was heading to bed she turned to Mary Margaret.

“Hey, I’ve got a couple tickets to a concert this Friday. Do you want to come?”

“Sorry, Em. I can’t. I’ve got a date.”

The two women laughed.

“Who is it this time?” Emma asked as Mary Margaret’s cat slinked into the room. 

“The new vet tech at the Riverside Animal Shelter. His name is David.”


End file.
